In the world of marketing of the 21st century, full of social networks, neural marketing, customer satisfaction surveys, intuitive ads on the internet via cell phones, the health sector, specifically Healthcare Centers in Peru, is found in the twentieth century in terms of marketing strategies.
But the question that arises after the previous analysis is whether the service we are talking about is suitable for "marketing", the target audience will accept the marketing of a service as sensitive as health? Clinics are committed to seeking to satisfy their customers? Is the potential of the recommendation of satisfied customers being harnessed? All of this is just part of the analysis that we will carry out throughout this article.
In a century like the current one in which all businesses use franchising as a model of expansion and globalization, the health business in Peru continues in the last century with obsolete levels of automation, systematization and without standardization of medical services in the clinics it is at least complex to apply these business models in this situation.
The large corporations of clinics in Peru do not work on such important aspects in current marketing as: Branding, Neural Marketing, Digital Marketing, Ecommerce, Emotional Marketing, Cross-device Strategies, etc.
The closest thing to doing marketing management today in the private health care sector is the use of CRM and quality of care surveys, I would dare to say that you do not work on customer loyalty efficiently.
Analyzing the service
The service they provide in the clinics is fully linked and directly personalized to the direct server in this case the doctor, often chosen by references and recommendations from third parties, either relatives or friends, the assessment of the quality of the service by the client or patient is always very subjective and always directly proportional to the following aspects:
- Was it cured of my condition? How much care did I need? Was it expensive or cheap? I waited a long time for my care? Cost of ancillary exams? Do you prescribe expensive or cheap medications?
Regarding the care process, there is an administrative phase and another care phase, the administrative phase linked to the appointment reservation, payment, the availability of clinics or care areas and the care phase that is the one that has to do with the care itself health professional.
The care phase that can be considered essential is exempt from two basic aspects in the case of services:
- Although it is true that there are medical care protocols or medical care guidelines, they are only referential and are not standardized processes, which means that measurable results cannot be established in time.The result is often linked to capacity, knowledge and experience of each health professional, therefore, it is not standardized in most cases.
I point out these aspects because definitely, being such a delicate and little standardized service, it is more difficult to take it to a marketing concept or strategy and even more complex to take to the marketing of our days that is so interactive and direct.
Analyzing the means, tools and strategies of current marketing of clinics
Currently the marketing tools most used by private clinics in Peru are:
- FlyersFolleteria-Merchandising.Fan page FacebookE-mailingEventually expos and specialized fairs.Health campaigns.
All of them are very rudimentary and are not part of a coherent comprehensive strategy. Even more so considering that today's patient or client is more informed thanks to the internet.
Most used Marketing Strategies
- State-of-the-art technology Better staff of professionals Better infrastructure Diversification of services.
In general, they are strategies for offering products or services and they are very general, simple and not very direct. In a world of personalization, these concepts are very unattractive for target audiences who reduce their decision only due to issues of need for attention and not out of conviction to use one service instead of another.
What does it mean to improve the marketing effort of the clinics?
In order to reach more people and make a difference with the competition in the sector, it is necessary to manage several aspects:
- Invest more money in marketing Work innovative comprehensive and differentiated marketing strategies Do not fear entering digital marketing Study the lifestyle characteristics of the business target Invest in the development of comprehensive customer service processes Manage customer loyalty Work in selling the other services to inhouse clients.
What concepts for marketing strategies can be worked on?
It seems to me that according to the preceding analysis I give you 6 examples of marketing strategy concepts:
- Health is a sensitive service, it must be approached under the concept of selling good health, solutions, trust, ethics and healing. The social part of health care must be sold The concept of successful cases in treatments more sensitive to the population The social concept of donation or that part of the money that is generated goes to social cases Apart from the technology and infrastructure it should be stated that our staff of health professionals is the best trained and that the clinic invests Work on the message of teamwork in the clinic, relegating the old concept that the doctor individually cures patients.
Developing these ideas with 21st century marketing and fine-tuning the resources of technology and the Internet, customers can be reached directly to offer them the appropriate services for each profile, segmented by age groups, launch health plans or programs according to their epidemiological profile in a manner that an individualized nexus of health services offer is generated.
Branding can be a powerful tool to generate links with clients, considering that new generations demand to identify modern concepts, clinics must seek to position themselves with image changes according to these new times.
Neural Marketing, entering the unconscious of people is one of the most modern trends, applied to health services, it is understood as generating in the mind that the health services provided in a given clinic are efficient and of quality.
Digital Marketing, Using digital marketing strategies at this time is one of the most effective trends, successful companies reach their audience through applications, with personalized social media messages, clinics should have applications that facilitate patient triage that serve as an induction to separate appointments with their doctors online, in addition to answering general health queries and medical care tips.
E Commerce, It is necessary to promote payments via the internet as a more aggressive form of recruitment, encouraged by discounts, the advantage is that when the client pays, it is safer for them to come to our clinic.
Emotional Marketing, this trend lends itself a lot to health services, considering, for example, that cures for illnesses are not sold… but good health, healthy life, lifestyles, etc. Births are not sold if not the happiness of being parents, these concepts approached as strategic concepts are powerful in the minds of consumers.
Cross-device strategies, the cross-device marketing strategy is one that is aimed at identifying those users who access a page from different devices with the aim that the content they consult from each one of them is synchronized to provide them with better experiences.
According to a study carried out by the consultancy company Adobe, 66% of users admit "feeling frustrated" when they verify that the content they access simultaneously from several devices is not synchronized, something much more common than it seems. We cannot forget that nowadays it is very common for a person to move from one device to another during the same digital consultation. In fact, the aforementioned Adobe study provides a very curious piece of information: so-called millennials tend to switch from one device to another in 90% of the occasions in which they perform a search on the Internet, a percentage that decreases as the age of the user increases. user.
Applied to health businesses, this strategy is part of the evolution they must achieve to have greater access to the individual space of clients in order to generate or strengthen ties with their clients.
In conclusion, it is necessary and urgent that private clinics in Peru generate modern marketing strategies by applying updated means and concepts to achieve greater penetration in their customer segments or targets as a means of attracting new customers and their loyalty.
